A Most Curious Encounter
by oriz
Summary: An Akatsuki hideout is situated in the vast forests lying beneath the mountains surrounding the Land of Hot Water. A few members of the organization are brought together by chance; and while following orders some of them will find unexpected troubles. What's more – a Konoha shinobi will cross their paths!
1. Chapter 1 - The gathering clouds

_A short note:_

_This story is fitted in an unknown timeframe for the manga/anime as I am _lazy_ to research deeper. It should be before they went to fetch Gaara as here Tobi is not yet part of Akatsuki, Sasori is still alive, and Sai has not yet joined Team Kakashi/Yamato/NewTeam7/Whysomuchnames!._

_Thank you for your time spent in reading this explanation._

* * *

"Surely, Itachi-san, there must be a faster way for us to get to the entrance" Hoshigaki Kisame frowned. "This climbing is getting annoying."

"We've been walking on this path for no more than half an hour," Uchiha Itachi said, voice cool, stepping forward on the dry, dusty and rocky forest path.

Kisame opened his mouth to protest – white, sharp teeth flashed under the hot sun – and then closed it. Both men kept the pace between each other for a few more minutes.

This section of the forest had suffered a fire and all the trees were dry and charred. The broad-brimmed hats the two men wore were offering a pathetic protection against the light and heat, and that, mixed with the no-trees issue, had gotten the Mist shinobi annoyed. But he could not convey again as it would be pointless to argue with the ice logic of an Uchiha.

_If only there was real ice_, thought Kisame to himself.

There was no wind as well and the tall man was sweating under his black robe, marked with red clouds.

"We've reached the live forest at last," Itachi's level words were music to his ears. "Hurry up, Kisame, the climb is not over yet."

It took them around an hour to find the cave complex that served as the Akatsuki hideout in the region. Its entrance was carved skillfully under a boulder and the living compartments went deep into the mountain core.

The Uchiha man did a series of seals and then the stone doors opened by themselves, shrieking in protest. A wave of cold air hit the shark-like man in the face like a wall of relief. Then they entered.

There was light, Itachi could see, coming from a few lit torches. Usually the entrance's ones had a special seal to keep their flame at all times.

"Someone was here recently," he informed his partner.

"Look, Itachi-san, even I know about the seals," the taller man said, shaking his head as if the Uchiha was not thinking properly or maybe was mocking him, but that was not typical of him.

Itachi user said nothing, but moved with caution. As they went down the corridor and entered a smaller door they gazed upon a vast hall where all torches were alive with fire and even a candle lamp was lit. The Sharingan possessor carefully observed the surroundings. Then he chose a door and, followed by the other, went into a room that should have been a big kitchen. It was all in light.

"I think your previous statement was correct and someone was here recently" a mildly ashamed Kisame admitted.

"How _observant_ of you."

"Look Itachi-san , I'll admit your skills anytime, but it was the damn heat that had me off-guard!"

"No need to apologize, Kisame."

"So who else could have been here then?" The man slippery replied.

"Maybe the Leader sent someone else, from the Organization, on a different task not long ago," The Uchiha assumed, looking around, his red eyes fixing on every detail.

"They sure made a mess out of it."

The room was quite a mess indeed. Everything was scattered in pieces, the walls had black markings on them, and the wood was burnt… As if there had been an explosion inside the cave complex.

* * *

"Can you move any slower, Master Sasori?" Deidara was leaning on a nearby tree, finding shelter under its branches.

"Can you keep your mouth shut for at least 5 minutes?" Came the sharp reply.

"But if I do that you could actually speed up…hmm!"

"Always the smart-ass, aren't you?" the voice of Sasori was a bit robotic, his crunched figure moving with the motion of a old lady, or so Deidara thought.

"That is so kind of you to say," the blond man rolled his eyes.

"Should I remind you that we are here because of your stupidity, Deidara?"

"I don't understand how this was my fault!" He shifted from the tree, waving his hands defensively in front of him. "I just wanted to make a few arrangements in the furniture."

"By blowing them up?" Sasori's thin eyebrow moved up as in disbelief and that, in addition of his mask, gave him an even weirder look.

"This is how my art works, Master Sasori," the other man said, smirking.

"Why would simple chairs had do suffer your art, I wonder!"

* * *

"What a bunch of assholes!"

"Shut your trap."

"Why, are you afraid someone else will attack us?"

"I told you to keep quiet."

"I can't be silent when I am enraged!"

"Stop slavering yourself."

Both men, dressed in black cloaks with red clouds stood in front of each other, desperately wanting to kill the other. As there would be no point in it, they both gave up.

"Let's go, Hidan, we're late already," the first man, the one with the mask beckoned.

"I wonder why that is, Kakuzu…" The second man had silver hair and weird triple-bladed scythe. "It can't be because of the people in that place that we just left, I would like to see those fucktards hanging on my scythe!"

"Stop ranting about _that_!"

"You should have let me kill them, for Lord Jashin!" Hidan insisted for the 10th time.

"I need them alive to get more money from them, moron."

"You are a greedy bastard, Kakuzu."

"Shut up."

"Make me!"

"We're near so quit jabbing, we have to be silent." His calm voice faded between the trees as they climbed higher into the mountain.

* * *

"Itachi-san, I can hear footsteps," Kisame noted, but it was too late as the Uchiha had already left the room and was standing in the corridor.

"Let's find out what's going on, but be cautions, Kisame."

"Okay."

They moved with great speed and were about to take cover when they heard familiar voices.

"I told you to be silent. Do you understand what this word means, Hidan? Do you?"

"I understand well enough, but I am not obliged to follow your orders, Kakuzu!"

"Moron."

"I swear I will rip your throat very soon, Jashin is my witness," the silver-haired man pointed his scythe at his partner. "You are such a pain in the ass," he continued as Kakuzu paid him no attention at all, clearly used to his partner's tantrums. "There is no one here, we're in a cave! Who could I bother? The cockroaches?"

His gaze switched as he noticed two figures moving towards them.

"Hey look who it is! Itachi and Kisame. The bugs grow bigger where no sun shines," Hidan barked and then busted into a loud laughter, causing Kakuzo to cover his face with his palm.

"Nice to see you too, freak" Kisame greeted.

"Don't make me kill you to, freak right back at ya!" Hidan clenched his teeth.

"Stop this." The tree of them turned towards Itachi. "Was it you who destroyed the kitchen?"

"We just came in." Kakuzo explained, suspicion in his voice. "Why? What's happening?"

"Can I finally kill someone?"

There was a loud bang at this moment and daylight came running into the cave. Parts of rocks and dust clouded the vision of 3 of the 4 standing Akatsuki members, and when they could finally see again they noticed that a part of the wall near the entrance was missing.

"Idiot!"

The voice came from the newly established 'door'.

"No need to be rude, now."

"Why didn't you use the seal?"

"I did, but it did not work!" Deidara announced to an enraged Sasori "So I made a new door…hmmm!"

"You…" Sasori had no more words left to explain the idiocy he had to witness. "The entrance is not here."

"Oh…"

Then they both noticed they are not alone.

"Well… well… Now we know who trashed that kitchen," Kisame smiled a toothy smile.


	2. Chapter 2 - Too many missions

_Note: Hello my dearest readers (_hi Anna-chan!_). As I am a person who can not express thoughts into writing very well, so... please feel free to give me tips how to not make the lovely Naruto characters less "wooden". Also all mistakes with grammar and vocabulary are due to my poor experience with like... writing. Hope you enjoy the story after this charming review! ^_^_

* * *

"If this isn't Deidara-chan and the turtle!" Hidan bursted out into laughter, his hands on his sides.

"Oh, won't you just shut up!" Kakuzu snapped, but regrettably to no avail as his partner didn't pay him any attention.

"Do you find the situation funny, Hidan?" Itachi calmly asked, his red eyes watching the disadvantage of a _hole_ in the wall of a _hideout_.

"As a matter of fact I _do_!" the white-haired man replied, fixing his purple gaze on the Uchiha.

"We need to cover this mistake as soon as possible."

"We need not do anything," Hidan smirked, nodding in the direction of the latest arrivals "As this is clearly Deidara's fault, he has to fix it with his _magic_ art, dontya think?"

"I will fix your facial expression right now, _mmm_!" Deidara grunted.

The other man laughed even harder and Sasori had to catch his partner's cloak in order to prevent him from jumping on Hidan and starting a fight.

However the blond Akatsuki member slipped out of his outfit, and with a very acrobatic move managed to land over the purple-eyed man and both of them fell on the floor, Hidan's scythe flying away from his hand. It made a gentle half-circle and landed in front of Itachi, who was staring at the wall, ignoring the men, caught in a tussle on the cold ground.

"You fight like a real lady, Deidara-chan!"

"Shut up you piece of insolent trash!"

His hand punched Hidan in the chest, as he made no attempt to defend himself.

"Oh, I like it when they talk dirty!" Another hand landed in his abdomen and he coughed some blood. "You punch like a girl, really!"

"You idiot!" Deidara peeved, furious his next blow hitting Hidan in the nose.

His opponent, blood streaming down his face, remembered that he have hands and grabbed his attacker's neck. The blond man made strange gibberish noises as he slowly changed his color from white to red.

"Kisame, can you please stop this unwanted nonscence?"

"Of course, Itachi-san."

The tall man moved like a flash and a second later he was holding the kicking, cursing and red Deidara in one hand and the grinning, bloody Hidan in the other. Both of them kept shouting at each other, completely ignoring the fact that they were currently_ in the air_.

"That's enough!" the Uchiha said, turning his back on them all. "Kakuzu, Sasori, please collect your partners and find rooms to stay for the evening. I will take care of the wall."

However he ex-sand shinobi stood motionless, while Kakuzo fetched his associate from Kisame.

"I believe we firstly need to find out why all of us are here at the same time, don't you agree."

"Then contact our Leader and find out." Itachi suggested, heading towards the door "We will meet in the morning to discuss our missions and tasks. Until then I count on all of you to act civilized."

It was not a request and he did not care if they said anything against it.

* * *

Later in the evening, lying in his bed, Uchiha Itachi watched the ceiling. He was waiting to fall asleep, his red sharingans fixed in one spot above him. Thinking about his task he was appointed, wondering how to combine it with his personal work in this region. The appearance of his fellow Akatsuki members was going to be an obstacle, but this was nothing he could not handle.

* * *

In the depths of the hideout, in one of the smaller and more ordinary rooms, Hidan sat on the simple wooden floor, his eyes closed, hands gathered in front of him, a soft whisper coming out of his parting lips. A prayer to Jashin.

* * *

In the inner parts of this hideout there was a big room with 9 columns, located in a circle. In the middle was situated a marble table surrounded with small round chairs. Torches were lit and illuminated the surroundings. It was the "conference" room. All six Akatsuki members were sitting around this table, eyes closed. A few more moments passed and they all started to move their heads slowly, eventually waking up from the silent communication with their Leader.

"That's the biggest bulshit I've heard so far!" Hidan complained, stretching his hands and back.

"Oh, so your voice is not a bother for you anymore?" Deidara wondered

"Mind your own…" the white-haired man started to reply, but Sasori hit the back of his partner's head and he changed his words into his usual arrogant laugher.

"Oh, come on master Sasori! I have a strong urge to show this moron my art and blow his ugly face up!"

"Don't. That would only make him much more bearable as a companion" Kakuzo objected, faint smile on his face.

"I swear I will kill you in your sleep!"

"You are incapable of killing a puppy even if it brings you a knife and lies on its back in front of you!" Deidara said, satisfied for thinking of this verbal attack.

"Be quiet everyone."

"Who made you the boss, Itachi, mmm?" the annoyance in Deidara's voice was ignored by the Uchiha.

"From what we all heard just now it's clear that Itachi-san will be in charge of this operation." Kisame stated with a wide smile.

"There is no need to argue about anything, as we all has different missions" The sharingan user uttered, as he rose up. "I suggest we start executing them. The faster we're done, the sooner we will part our ways." His gazed fixed Deidara, who snorted and left the room in a hurry.

"He really seems to hate you, Itachi-san."

"He will surely overcome it, Kisame."

"Or die by your hands."

Itachi shrugged and left this thought for future deliberations.

* * *

Meanwhile not too far and not too close to that specific hideout, a group of four shinobi were slowly moving towards the forests of the Land of Hot Water. The sun was still low and hidden behind the mountains when they reached the edge of the forest. The sunrise welcomed them just then.

"Was it needed to travel all night to reach these trees so urgently?" Yamanaka Ino sighted, leaning on the nearest trunk.

"Why weren't allowed to take any snacks with us?" Akimichi Chōji gasped, arriving last at their rest point in the beginning of the forest.

"Do you guys always ask so many questions on a mission?" Sakura questioned both of them, unpacking something from her bag.

"Yes they do." The last person of their small group stood with his back to them, facing the darkness between the trees in the depths of the wood.

"That's because you like to answer them, don't you?" Ino smiled, looking at her comrade.

"Let's focus on the mission we were assigned by the Hokage and waste no time." Shikamaru Nara replied, remembering the parting words of his father that this forest was the safest of all the Nara clan cared for.

They all nodded as Sakura handed them small packs of energy pills and even Chōji could not complain. This was not going to be troublesome _at all._


	3. Chapter 3 - What a misfortune

Itachi watched as Kakuzu, Deidara and Sasori left the hideout later in the morning. Kakuzu was in what seemed to be high "spirits" and chatted something with Sasori, while Deidara was walking ahead of them, cursing something under his nose, something only he could see or maybe it was inside his head. The Uchiha was _not_ certain when it came to the blond Akatsuki member.

"Itachi-san I am ready to go too," Kisame reported, appearing at the back exit of the cave complex "Are you sure that you want to do this _on your own_?" he added.

"He's **not** alone, you jackoff!"

It was obvious that the shark-like man had said that on purpose, just to annoy Hidan, who was temporary going to work with the sharingan user.

"Yes, as I said," The ex-Mist shinobi continued, totally disregarding his fellow Akatsuki member "I will be back shortly; my mission is a piece of cake!"

"You assrat, bastard jerk," Hidan moved sharply towards Kisame, but Itachi's hand stopped his motion.

"Just go, we will manage on our own," the Uchiha said with a warning in his voice and finally his partner went on his own mission.

* * *

"_Stupid Kisame, who is he to talk to me like that, I am Lord Jashin's faithful servant, he has __**no**__ idea what will happen to him once meet somewhere all alone!"_ Hidan ranted in his head as was cautious enough to keep such thoughts to himself around Itachi _"Implying I am of no use! Me?!"_

Out loud he said:

"This… _thing_ is as annoying as Deidara!"

The Uchiha watched him with no expression.

"Are you ready to leave now, Hidan?"

"No, but obviously I have no choice," The white-haired man frowned. _You're the same prick as him, Itachi!_

"We need to be back before sunset, so we have to move fast." The black haired men said, looking intently at his marvelous persona.

"From what I can see you are the one that is not moving!" Hidan complained, as he was moving down the rocky mountain path. _That self-centered, ankle-biting, washed-up rat bastard__ you'd rather see tied to the back of a __burning log. How dare he boss me around!_

* * *

Between the forest and the mountain slope, where there was a small dell rested a very tiny, very forewarn village. It had around a dozen huts and maybe 20 people were living there. Currently all of them were dead, bodies scattered around the ground.

Itachi walked around corpses, his feet soaking in the bloody mud that had formed. Hidan was merciless when it came this. The man had absolutely no moral restraints regarding the people he killed; from what the Uchiha had gathered as information he considered slaughter a religious calling, and often took considerable pleasure in making his opponents' deaths as painful as possible. This was not the case as they were short on time and the villagers were mostly old people.

"Are you done?" Itachi asked.

"Do I _look_ like I am done?" Hidan was laying on the ground, in a circle drawn with blood, his skin black and white.

"Excuse me for interrupting then," the former Konoha shinobi said. _He will be in this trans for at least ten minutes, I have time to check _this_…_

Walking out of the settlements' circle the man fell between the trees. He looked around with care, his sharingan scanning, checking and searching. Finally, satisfied with the privacy, Uchiha Itachi picked up something from his pocket. It was a small leather bag, worn out and tied with red woolen string. The villages' "elder" gave it to him, claiming it contained what he needed. Then of course he ran and Hidan killed him, before Itachi could do anything else.

Regrettably the bag's content was not what he searched for.

"Oh, then I guess we will have to search for the villagers that managed to escape in the forest," he sighed, stuffing the bag back in his pockets as it could be useful for something else "I just need to _persuade_ Hidan that there were actually people who ran away from him."

* * *

"Look Sakura," Chōji's voice was loud and clear despite the fact he was bending halfway near under bushes "Is this the one we are after?" he asked, pointing at the orange fruits, that grew on these plants.

The girl approached the Akimichi shinobi and inspected his discovery. Regrettably it was not the one Tsunade-sama had sent them for.

"You know… it has to be the colour of peach, Chōji…" Shikamaru sighted, jumping from the branch of the nearby tree.

"But peaches are orange!" Reasoned his team mate.

"I seriously doubt that you have eaten a peach recently," the other Konoha shinobi rolled his eyes "Anyways…"

"We also had to search bushes and grass-like plants for them, not the trees," Ino joined their very important conversation.

"We better hurry," Sakura interrupted, looking at the sky "If we don't want to spend the night here."

* * *

"What do you mean _I_ let them escape?" Hidan raised a white eyebrow and stared down the man in front of him.

"I am stating the fact," Itachi's cool demeanor was driving him crazy "You said you can take on all the villagers, didn't you?" The impeach in his tone was barely noticeable.

"Like hell I did!"

"I had to find the thing The Leader asked about, while you were appointed with simply stopping the people."

"You!" Hidan pointed a finger at Itachi, furious. How dare he question his actions? He wished for a countless time to kill this annoying Uchiha, but… the man was too big of a bite for him. For now. "Weren't you supposed to cover my back?" he managed to ask at last, his face red.

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

The sharingan user turned and looked at his fellow Akatsuki.

"You did not ask. Now let's move if we wish to catch them."

Hidan grabbed his scythe and dragged after the other man.

_Good, he's finally not blabbering,_ Itachi's eyes were scanning the trees, looking at leafs, branches, trunks. _I'll have to be careful, when messing with a mind such as his._

"I see no marks, no one passed through here!" Hidan complained, looking at the small forest path that stretched like forever in the distance. It was late afternoon and the sun was soon going to disappear behind the mountains.

"Be silent or you might scare them," Itachi whispered.

"Scare no one? How is that possible, eh?"

"Keep quiet, Hidan."

"Stop bossing me around!" his voice reached the higher noise margins and the Uchiha sighted.

"Don't make me silence you."

The treat was nothing special, but this made the white haired man stop with his ranting.

Now if only he could spot this herb and be done with it…

A loud explosion severed the silence that had fallen and both men look at each other, none of them particularly worried.

* * *

"Don't go there it looks like the place is being guarded," Shikamaru warned as he and Ino were inspecting a small bush.

Their teammate smiled broadly.

"What can happen? It's just a bunch of rocks."

And that was the last thing they heard for a long time from Chōji , who had the bad luck to step into one of the traps Itachi had set up for his imaginary runaways from the small village.

* * *

Sakura woke up, feeling tired. Her mouth was sore and she was dying for water. She tried to stand up, but her legs were stuck beneath something. She gathered her strength and pushed up, managing to set herself free. Behind her loomed the flames of a fire and she couldn't see anything. The girl was disoriented, but understood that she had to run. And so she did, as fast as she could.

All around her everything was on fire. The dry trees were burning, the grass was black already and the animals were as noisy as Naruto when he heard of free ramen. The thought of her friend managed to shake her off and she kept running forward.

After a short, but unknown period of time she crashed into something. As it appeared, after the kunoichi managed to see better, despite the smoke around her - it was a man. Sakura raised her head and tried to speak, her lungs burning with pain.

"Wh… whooo…"

The man grinned, but there was no fun in the grin, it was more like a knife.

"Hey Itachi, look what the cat dragged in." a tall man in a black cloak with red clouds said picking up the girl by the collar of her cloth.

The man that he called to showed up, emerging from the smoke. He wore the same cloak and something in him was familiar, but she just could not figure it out, until two red eyes engulfed her.

"Sa… sa… sasuke?" She called uncertain, not able to say the word.

"Hidan, grab her and let's get out of the fire," the man ordered and as the one holding her did not react he added with urgent tone "Now!"

She was picked up even higher and thrown over the shoulder of the first man. The last thing Sakura saw was the staring eyes of the man with the sharingan who walked behind.


End file.
